1927 Born in Lilydale, Victoria
1944-45 Studied painting at Swinburne Institute of Technology
1946-47 Studied with Danila Vassilieff
1954-56 Travelled in Europe, lived in England
1968-69 Travelled in North Africa, Middle East, Asia and Europe, lived in Morocco
1968-70 Lived in England
1976-77 Artist-in-Residence, Ballarat College of Advanced Education, Victoria
1978 Moved to Perugia, Italy, where he currently lives
Awards
1979 John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria
1987 Visual Art Board Emeritis Award for substantial contribution to Australian Art
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2002 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
2001 Watters Gallery, Sydney
2000 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1999 Watters Gallery, Sydney
1998 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1997 Richard Salmon Gallery, London
1996 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1995 Watters Gallery, Sydney
1994 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1993 Watters Gallery, Sydney
1992 Pinacotheca, Melbourne
1991 Watters Gallery, Sydney
1990 Ken Whisson: A survey, Pinacotheca, Melbourne and touring
1990 Ken Whisson, 20 Drawings from 1973 to 1993, Cannibal Pierce Galerie Australienne, St. Denis, France
1989 Watters Gallery, Sydney
1989 Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1987 Ken Whisson Paintings 1957-1985, Broken Hill Art Gallery and touring
1986 Watters Gallery, Sydney
1986 312 Lennox Street, Melbourne
1985 Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1984 The Paintings and Drawings of Ken Whisson, Contemporary Art Society Gallery
1984 Watters Gallery, Sydney
1983 Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
1983 Pinacotheca, Melbourne
1981 Watters Gallery, Sydney
1980 Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
1980 Watters Gallery, Sydney
1980 Ken Whisson: Selected Paintings, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
1977 Ken Whisson, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
1976 Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
1976 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1974 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1974 Macquarie Galleries, Canberra
1973 Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
1973 Latrobe Valley Arts Centre, Morwell
1972 Gallery A, Melbourne
1972 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1968 Strines, Melbourne
1968 Chester Beatty Research Institute, London
1967 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1966 Gallery A, Melbourne
1965 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1963 South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne
1962 Barry Stern Galleries, Sydney
1961 Victorian Artists Society, Melbourne
1960 Victorian Artists Society, Melbourne
1957 Victorian Artists Society, Melbourne
1956 Victorian Artists Society, Melbourne
1952 Lower Kozminisky Gallery, Melbourne
Selected Group Exhibitions
2004 2004 Drawing Biennale, ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra
2004 Penetralia: Art and Psychoanalysis in Melbourne, 1940–2004, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Blue Chip V: The Collectors Exhibition, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
2002 Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
2001 Blue Chip IV: The Collectors Exhibition, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
2001 The Sense We Make: Australian Art from the Orica Collection, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
2001 Octane: Celebrating 80 Years of the Royal Australian Air Force, Global Arts Link, Ipswich, Queensland
2000 Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
1999 On the Road - The Car in Australian Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
1998 The Laverty Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
1997 The Urban Edge: Historical and Contemporary Works from the Queensland Art Gallery collection, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
1997 A Face in the Crowd, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
1996 Hidden Treasures 11: Art in Corporate Collections, S.H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1995 Summer 95-96, Watters Gallery, Sydney
1994 Drawing on Inspiration, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
1993 Works from the Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane
1992 Contemporary Australian Drawings from the Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales & touring
1991 Cross Currents: Contemporary New Zealand and Australian Art in the Chartwell Collection, Waikato Museum of Art & History, Hamilton, New Zealand
1991 Her Story: Images of Domestic Labour in Australian Art, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1990 Harbour Hymns, City Songs; Visions of Sydney from the Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1990 Art on the Campus, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney Gallery 5, Vidal, Venice, Italy
1989 Prints and Australia: Pre-settlement to Present, Australian National Gallery
1989 Joseph Brown Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1988 Creating Australia: 200 Years of Art, Art Gallery of South Australia & I.C.C.A.
1988 Seventeen Australian Artists, Gallery 5, Vidal, Venice, Italy
1988 The Great Australian Art Exhibition 1788-1988, touring all state galleries
1988 Drawing in Australia from 1770s to 1980s, Australian National Gallery
1987 Painters and Sculptors: Diversity in Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery and Museum of Modern Art
1987 Saitama, Japan Contemporary Art in Australia - A Review, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane
1984 The Australians, CDS Gallery, New York
1984 Twelve Australian Painters, Western Australian Art Gallery & Queensland Art Gallery
1983 Some Recent Australian Works on Paper, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1983 Recent Australian Painting: A Survey, 1970 - 1983, Art Gallery of South Australia
1982 Australian Painting and Sculpture 1956 - 1981, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1982 The Seventies: Australian Paintings and Tapestries from the Collection of the National Australia Bank, National Gallery of Victoria
1981 Australian Perspecta 1981, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1981 Some Australian Drawings 1880 - 1980, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1978 Pemandangan alam dan Khayal / Landscape and Image: A Selection of Australian Art of the 1970s, touring Indonesia
Collections
Allen Allen & Hemsley, Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Victoria
Bathurst Art Gallery, New South Wales
British Museum, London
Broken Hill Art Gallery, New South Wales
Burnie Art Gallery, Tasmania
Centre for Contemporary Art, New Zealand
Chartwell Collection, New Zealand
Dalby Regional Art Gallery, Queensland
Kedumba Gallery, New South Wales
Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria
Heide Museum of Modern Art, Victoria
Latrobe Valley Arts Centre, Victoria
McClelland Art Gallery, Victoria
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
National Australia Bank
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales
NRMA Orange Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales
Parliament House, Canberra
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
Singleton Municipality, Queensland
Southern Cross University Art Museum
State Bank
Sydney College of Advanced Education, New South Wales
Sydney University, New South Wales
University Art Museum, Queensland
University of New England, New South Wales
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Warrnambool Art Gallery, Victoria
Private collections, Australia and overseas
Selected Bibliography
Catalogues/Books:
Gina Lee, 2004 Drawing Biennale, ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra, 2004
Laura Murray Cree and Nevill Drury, Australian Painting Now, Craftsman House, 2000
Christopher Allen, Art in Australia from Colonisation to Postmodernism, Thames & Hudson, 1997
Nevill Drury, Images 2 - Contemporary Australian Painting, Craftsman House, 1994
Mary Eagle & John Jones, A Story of Australian painting, Macmillan, 1994
Peter & Susan Ward , A Different Light: Australian Artists Working in Italy, University of Qld Press, 1991
John McDonald, 'Ken Whisson and the Life of Forms' (catalogue essay) Ken Whisson: A Survey, Pinacotheca, 1990
K. Shepherd, 'A Soldier at War with the Picture' (catalogue essay) Ken Whisson, 20 Drawings from 1973 - 1989, Cannibal Pierce Galerie Australienne, St. Denis, France, 1990
Daniel Thomas, Creating Australia: 200 Years of Art 1788-1988, I.C.C.A. & Art Gallery of South Australia, 1988
Tony Bond, 'Ken Whisson', Twelve Australian Painters, Art Gallery of Western Australia, 1983
Robert Lindsay, 'Notes on the Artists and their Works', The Seventies: Australian Paintings and Tapestries from the Collection of National Australia Bank, National Gallery of Victoria, 1982
Richard Haese, An Introduction to the Core Collection, Heide Park and Art Gallery, 1981
Kym Bonython, Modern Australian Painting 1950-1975, Rigby, 1980
Rosalie Gasgoigne, Ken Whisson: Selected Paintings, RMIT Gallery, 1978
Articles/Reviews:
Ian Findlay, 'Ken Whisson at Niagara Galleries', Asian Art News, November 2004
Sebastian Smee, 'Don’t fence me in', The Weekend Australian, 6 November 2004
Jeff Makin, 'Click age... bits, bytes and beauties', The Herald Sun, 18 October 2004
Sasha Grishin, 'Exciting but is it drawing?', The Canberra Times, 26 July 2004
Jeff Makin, 'Images picking up pace', The Herald Sun, 18 November 2002
Timothy Morrell, '50 most collectable artists', Australian Art Collector, Issue 19, Jan-Mar 2002
Steve Tonkin, 'The Edge of Recognition', Artonview, Issue 23, Spring 2000
Peter Timms, 'Portraits and pleasure', The Age, 4 November 1998
John McDonald, 'Along the path to understanding', Sydney Morning Herald, 28 October 1995
Robert Rooney, 'Abstractions of a political landscape', The Australian, 29-30 October 1994
Christopher Heathcote, 'Following a bright vanguard', The Age, 26 October 1994
Sonia Harford, 'Reflections from happy exile', The Age, 26 October 1994
John Barbour, 'Ken Whisson', Art Monthly, June 1987
Carolyn Barnes, 'Ken Whisson - Paintings 1957-85', Art & Australia, vol.25, no.2, 1987
Michael Wardell, 'Ken Whisson: St. Kilda to Perugia', Art & Australia, vol.22, no.2, 1984
Elwyn Lynne, 'Letter from Australia', Art International, vol.XXV/33-4, 1982
Gary Catalano, The Years of Hope: Australian Art & Criticism 1959-1968, Oxford University Press, 1980
Gary Catalano, 'Ken Whisson and His World', Aspect, vol.3, no.4, 1978
James Mollison, 'The Australian Collection', Art & Australia, vol.14, nos.3 & 4, 1977
Keith Looby, 'Ken Whisson', Art & Australia, vol.13, no.4, 1976
Robert Hughes, 'Troublesome Melbourne', Nation, 2 June 1962
Sources:
'Ken Whisson', Niagara Galleries, exhibition catalogue, 2002
'Ken Whisson', Watters Gallery, exhibition catalogue, 2001
'Images', Victorian College of the Arts Gallery catalogue, 1979